Paris (France), 14 July (LaPresse/AP) – This year’s Bastille Day celebrations are not just about France. Troops and military aircraft from across Europe are joining Tuesday’s lavish parade in Paris, in what is intended to be a show of support for Ukraine and a demonstration of European military strength. In what will be President Emmanuel Macron’s final Bastille Day as president, he will host around 30 other leaders for an event that appears aimed at demonstrating to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump that Europe is united and ready to defend itself. The highlight is the Paris parade beneath the Napoleonic-era Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Élysées, which inspired Trump to organise his own parade last year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join Macron and around 30 other heads of state or government in the area reserved for parade spectators. Ukrainian troops will march along the cobbled avenue, and Ukrainian co-pilots, trained in France, will fly two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French Air Force pilots. 14 July is celebrated because it is the day on which Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in 1789, helping to spark the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy and sent King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette to the guillotine.
France: EU troops march in Paris on Bastille Day in support of Ukraine
Paris (France), 14 July (LaPresse/AP) – This year’s Bastille Day celebrations are not just about France. Troops and military aircraft from across Europe are joining Tuesday’s lavish parade in Paris, in what is intended to be a show of support for Ukraine and a demonstration of European military strength. In what will be President Emmanuel Macron’s final Bastille Day as president, he will host around 30 other leaders for an event that appears aimed at demonstrating to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump that Europe is united and ready to defend itself. The highlight is the Paris parade beneath the Napoleonic-era Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Élysées, which inspired Trump to organise his own parade last year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will join Macron and around 30 other heads of state or government in the area reserved for parade spectators. Ukrainian troops will march along the cobbled avenue, and Ukrainian co-pilots, trained in France, will fly two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French Air Force pilots. 14 July is celebrated because it is the day on which Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in 1789, helping to spark the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy and sent King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette to the guillotine.
